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New online map reveals exactly where Paris pollution levels are highest

AFP
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New online map reveals exactly where Paris pollution levels are highest
Photo: AFP

How polluted is Paris? Paris City Hall is to launch an online map on Tuesday to reveal the every day levels of air pollution in the capital. Commuters who use the Metro regularly might think about an alternative form of transport.

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This online data has been obtained by 400 vehicles equipped with pollution sensors patrolling the streets of the French capital. It will enable Parisians and visitors to know more precisely the quality of the air they breathe every day where they live or work.

The data will be updated every two hours on a daily basis. It will also display pollution forecasts for the next day at 11am.

The map presents an almost real-time picture of the state of pollution through clear colour codes: green (very low), yellow (medium), red (very high). The data will be updated every hour. 

Users will be able to zoom in on each street and see that pollution levels oscillate from one point to another and turn orange or red as you get closer to major roads and in particular to the peripherique (ring road around Paris).

Le Monde had a preview of the new map which went on Tuesday morning.

Metro hotspots

This interface makes it possible to precisely identify the most polluted areas. Hot spots include the entrances to Metro station, car park exits, the areas around train stations where diesel powered TER trans run from and of course the city's main roads like the Périphérique ring road.

"Three hundred metro entrances release fine particles at exceptionally dangerous levels,"said the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, speaking at the launch.

According to a study unveiled last week by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), polluting emissions of nitrogen oxides from diesel cars in Paris are above the standards set by the European Union.

"In Europe, more than 11,000 people die prematurely each year due to nitrogen dioxide emissions from diesel engines exceeding standards," according to the ICCT. “In Paris and its metropolitan area, this amounts to 1,100 premature deaths per year.”

 

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Anonymous 2019/09/17 16:35
So let's add another THREE HUNDRED polluting cars to the streets to get a more accurate reading??? :)<br />Are they electric?

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